An Up and Coming Star?

Well, mixed in with all the unpleasantness of not yet selling our home and cars needing repairs and unexpected medical bills and Blaise's troubles in school comes a ray of blessed sunshine.

Two weeks ago, on a whim, I responded to an ad in the paper asking for kids ages 4-17 to come in and audition for the chance to work for places like Kohl's and Target doing modeling. After a very informative 1 1/2 hours of learning about the modeling business and what it takes and meeting a "headhunter" from a big casting agency, the kids were individually interviewed and filmed reading commercials for either Skippy p-butter or Levi's 501's. When that was done, we were handed a paper with a phone number for the agency and told to call precisely at the time listed on the card the following day.
On Sunday, just after arriving home from church, I called the number and was told that they had good news and bad news. Camber and Alaric had potential but were not what they needed. Then she said, "Blaise!...oh my gosh Blaise...you knew what you were doing when you brought him in, didn't you?" They loved him and he ended up being one of only 2 kids (out of about 45-50) who was offered a contract. He is now in a performing arts academy to learn the business and "develop himself professionally".

The upshot of all this? Blaise finally feels like he is okay being himself. After all, he was told repeatedly that that is what they loved about him--"he is so comfortable in his own skin" and "he has so much energy". Of course, the red hair and freckles helped. He is excited about the possibility of having a "career" and being able to earn more than what a paper route could pay. Amazingly, his schoolwork has improved dramatically in the past week. He is eager to get things done and believes in his own abilities. If he continues to work this hard on everything we really will have a star on our hands!